Review of "Mastering Anger and Aggression"

Mastering
Anger and Aggression: The Brazelton Way is a wonderful contribution to the
literature on parenting, focusing, particularly, on angry and aggressive
feelings of children. The book delectably blends the perspective of a renowned
pediatrician (coauthor Dr. T. Berry Brazelton is a Clinical Professor of
Pediatrics Emeritus, at Harvard Medical School), with that of an accomplished
child psychiatrist (coauthor Dr. Joshua D. Sparrow is an Assistant Professor of
Psychiatry, at Harvard Medical School). The writing, of Brazelton and Sparrow,
is beautiful, and very lucid, as well as refreshingly devoid of suffocating
academic denseness. Their brilliant writing powerfully exudes an authoritative
forcefulness, which is quite appropriate, given their superb expertise in the
realm of child behavior.

The book's
keystone view, held trenchantly, is that children need help from their
parents, with regard to mastering anger and aggression; and this splendidly
edifying book explains, very clearly, how parents, in practical, real life
ways, can provide that help. Characteristically, Brazelton and Sparrow expound
on a particular behavior, that may be exhibited by a child, and then, very importantly,
shower readers with a torrent of practical advice, concerning how parents may
respond properly to that behavior. The highly knowledgeable discourse on child
behavior, proffered deftly in this book, is strengthened greatly by the
coauthors' great skill in artfully molding the textual contents into a form
that is, substantively, insightful and informative, and, stylistically, plainly
understandable and very lay reader friendly. Veritably, the book is an
invaluable primer for parents, worldwide, struggling to steer the development
of their children from going awry.

Structurally, this rather terse, albeit very enlightening, book is compressed
into merely three chapters. A bibliography, adjoining the text, enumerates
sundry books for parents, children, and professionals, as well as several web
sites and videotapes, tethered, in some fashion, to the mastery of aggression
and anger.

The sage
counsel, of Brazelton and Sparrow, explicating the nuances of the behavior of
children, very helpfully explains to parents what children will (likely) do,
why they will do it, and how parents should suitably react. The first chapter
expresses the view that displays of angry feelings by a child provide the child
with energy necessary to respond to a perceived danger, and anger is, also, a
form of expression of the child, as an independent person. As envisaged by
Brazelton and Sparrow, the vexing challenge for parents is to understand the
necessity of their child's anger, while, concomitantly, limiting it
appropriately.

Not
insignificantly the coauthors, in the first chapter, seek, also, to shed
intellectual light on "touchpoints": the stages, in a child's
development, during which rapid bursts of learning occur. For children, the
development of self control, over anger and aggression, is a demanding process,
beset by numerous challenges. The firm belief, of Brazelton and Sparrow, is
that touchpoints, in early childhood, when a child begins to develop self
control, provide parents with golden opportunities to help the child master
angry and aggressive feelings. And, indeed, a cardinal purpose of this fine
book is to capably guide parents coveting the successful navigating of the
turgid, and turbid, waters of touchpoints.

The crux of
the second chapter is to further instructively elaborate on the process of a
child developing self control, over anger and aggression, with a focus,
especially, on the time frame from birth until early childhood. As the chapter
makes plain, it is difficult for a child to properly balance self control and
self assertion. The coauthors emphasize that the child, and the child's
parents, both need to learn: the growing child needs to learn proper forms of
self assertion; and the parents need to learn to effectually circumscribe that
assertion. The coauthors describe numerous practical ways that may enable
parents to help their children.

In the
concluding chapter common problems, pertinent to self control, anger, and
aggression as a child grows, are eyed, perspicaciously, through the keenly
discerning lens, of Brazelton and Sparrow. Consistently practical suggestions,
for parents, abound in this last chapter, as well. Topics falling within the
ken of this book envelop: anger, biting, bullying and teasing, hitting and
kicking, self defense, sports and aggression, tantrums, and toy guns. The
subjects, foregoing, are dissected and examined with obvious great skill, and,
typically, a plenitude of practical suggestions for parents, of a sagacious
nature, are described.

This
illumining book provides a fairly detailed blueprint, concerning how parents
can, with optimal efficacy and safety, traverse the demanding terrain of angry
and aggressive feelings of children. And the book, in fact, should be greatly
appealing to parents, everywhere. Pediatricians, psychiatrists, and
psychologists should, additionally, be quite enthralled by the strength of this
powerfully constructed book.

Leo Uzych (based in Wallingford, PA) earned a law degree, from Temple University; and a master of public
health degree, from Columbia University. His area of special professional
interest is healthcare.